WSJ Blindfold Brackets

Submitted by Ali G Bomaye on

The Wall Street Journal has done their blindfold brackets feature again this year.  For the uninitiated, it's an interesting interactive bracket where you pick each game based on a description of each team and its strengths and weaknesses, theoretically removing biases that you may have about the school or conference.

Link: http://projects.wsj.com/blindfold-brackets-2014/index.php

For what it's worth, I got a Final Four of Florida, Arizona, Iowa State, and Louisville, with Florida beating Louisville in the title game.  It's not hard to figure out who Michigan is from the description; I had them losing to Louisville in the Elite 8.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

March 17th, 2014 at 10:20 AM ^

Exactly what I ended up with for a Final Four.  Harvard and ND State turned out to be 12/5 picks, and Harvard was basically the only non-chalk in the Sweet 16.  Boy do I hope that comes true.  Ohio State over Syracuse as well, and I would honestly have strongly considered the same thing knowing their names.

readyourguard

March 17th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^

Ooof.  I picked mostly on defense and ended up with Arizona over Florida in the Finals.  I have Michigan losing to Arizona State in the Round of 32 and MSU losing to Virginia in the Sweet 16.

All Day

March 17th, 2014 at 10:30 AM ^

Always reassuring when my blind final four and my predicted final four are the exact same. The only difference was my championship game result.

Florida, Arizona, Michigan State, Louisville.

joeyb

March 17th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^

Dayton over OSU. Run and tell that.

Florida > Villanova

Michigan > Creighton

Michigan > Florida.

I may have figured out who Michigan was by the description *DRINK* (I did legitimately pick them into the Elite 8 against Wichita State)

Paps

March 17th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^

To point out that I had Eastern Kentucky beating Kansas, New Mexico, and Ohio State to make it to the Elite 8 (where they lost to my eventual champion Florida)



Wow... Eastern Kentucky!!!

MGoGrendel

March 17th, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^

Lil' Bro is "Rodeo Clown". I like the Singer Songwriter name, given the alternatives.

I have Florida, Virginia, Michigan and Creighton in the final four with Virginia winning.

chatster

March 17th, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^

Elite Eight

  • The Uncoordinated Mountain Climbers over the Drooling Divas
  • The Considerate Kleptomaniacs over the Erudite Cheese Mongers
  • The Belligerent Pacifists over the Carefree Zookeepers
  • The Negligent Nincompoops over the Sweet Smelling Sanitation Workers

Final Four

  • The Considerate Kleptomaniacs over the Uncoordinated Mountain Climbers
  • The Belligerent Pacifists over the Negligent Nincompoops

Championship

  • The Belligerent Pacifists over the Considerate Kleptomaniacs

Bambi

March 17th, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^

Did it twice.

First time I had Virginia over Louisville in the title game, with Arizona and Florida as my other two Final Four teams. Michigan lost to Louisville, no real major upsets.

Second time I got Wichita State over Florida, with Zona and Nova as the other two Final Four teams. This time I zoomed right through it, not looking at any seeding or descriptions what so ever, and had us losing to Duke and Harvard in the Elite Eight.

Both times Dayton beat OSU.

Simps

March 17th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^

Too easy to tell which team was Michigan so I kept picking them and surprise, they won it all in my "blind" bracket. My final four was Michigan, Arizona, Florida, and Cincy with Michigan beating Florida to win it all. Which is exactly what my final game is in my real bracket. All this did was tell me that I watched way too much college basketball this season.

Michiganfootball13

March 17th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^

I did this bracket last year and my results had Michigan losing their first game!  Glad I went with my actual bracket and had Michigan( a little bit of a homer pick) losing to Louisville.

DowntownLJB

March 17th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^

I wound up with UCLA beating Arizona in the final - with Michigan and Wisconsin as the other final four teams.  Had St. Joe's on a deep run.  Ohio out in the first round. 

Yeezus

March 17th, 2014 at 5:18 PM ^

Florida over Louisville for me (UVA and Zona as the other two in my Final 4 - clearly I go nuts for defense).  

Didn't try to figure out who these teams were, but Syracuse was freaking obvious. 

Providence in the sweet 16 is about as crazy as my picks went.  Clearly too conservative.  

MJ14

March 17th, 2014 at 10:55 PM ^

http://projects.wsj.com/blindfold-brackets-2014/bracket.php?r=b597dfdd-…

This is almost dead on from what I would select. I could tell who Florida and Wichita St were though, and I don't have either of them in my true bracket going to the championship game, so I don't know why I kept picking them. But, they seemed to be the best option for me. I have Michigan going a long way, and I had no idea which one they were. 

I also have Ohio losing to Dayton, which surprised me, but I can't say I'm mad. You can check my blind bracket out above. I also have Dayton taking Syracuse down.